Another strange one from this author. She really knows how to create repressed, uptight MCs! It was actually quite a sweet story, although I never likeAnother strange one from this author. She really knows how to create repressed, uptight MCs! It was actually quite a sweet story, although I never like it when the heroine has to do all the running, which was the case here. The hero was a repressed gentleman so bound by convention and good manners that he had forgotten how to be light-hearted and how to have fun. The heroine was an unconventionally-raised girl who gradually melts his cold, rather judgemental heart. He really did have a poker up his arse, and there was no doubt he was the brother of the uptight, repressed heroine in A Lady Awakened. What a family! All the same, it was cute and not long enough for me to get seriously annoyed with the hero. I seem to be reading all these books with heroes needing rescuing from themselves, and our heroines always there, ready to do the job. Is that what women are meant for? Oh well, it was still a cute book....more
Another damp squib! Trying to read these Christmas stories for my Challenge and I am ready to be over Christmas- when we still have 4 weeks to go! The Another damp squib! Trying to read these Christmas stories for my Challenge and I am ready to be over Christmas- when we still have 4 weeks to go! The Duke in this novella has a pretty unsavoury past that included a wager with a group of young men to see who could get the most girls to fall in love with them in one season. Yup. What a hero. Don't care that he regretted it, and stopped participating part of the way through. Maybe he could have stopped the others, too? Pretty mean, breaking all those hearts for a bet. So it was a struggle to see him as a genuine Mensch. She then proceeds to (view spoiler)[ have sex on a cloak in the open in the middle of winter with said duke. She is a virgin. That makes him a creep and her self-respectless. (hide spoiler)]. And way too many Americanisms and modernisms. I was so looking forward to these holiday reads...... [image]...more
1.5 stars I just couldn't get into any of these. No sexual tension, no angst, just no emotional connection for me. The heroines tended to do all the ru1.5 stars I just couldn't get into any of these. No sexual tension, no angst, just no emotional connection for me. The heroines tended to do all the running, it was mostly second-chance or friends to lovers trope- not my thing....more
An ok read- nothing special. Maybe I am expecting too much from several very short novellas. And I am not a HUGE fan of second-chance romances, tbh. JAn ok read- nothing special. Maybe I am expecting too much from several very short novellas. And I am not a HUGE fan of second-chance romances, tbh. Joanna Bourne: had to be about "spies" and very international, of course! I liked this one- interested in the heroine's character (she was a jeweller based in Switzerland) and the hero was very likeable. Susan King: Did not like this one so much. The hero too easily forgot about the heroine (he did not fight for her) and she still loved him after so many years and a husband later. And he was a grumpy bastard. Blah. Patricia Rice: This was cute and clever. But again, hero gets on with his life, pretty shallow in his youth. (If he didn't want her to marry someone else, he should have got in first.) Good dialogue. Mary Jo Putney: A scarred and very damaged soldier returns to hide in a tower and plans to watch his love marry his brother. The MCs are only together towards the end. Cara Elliot: Twice widowed heroine goes back to her first love. Hmm.... Husband number 3? If I were him, I wouldn't bother :) Nicola Cornick: The old Hero-afraid-to-love-cos-his-dad-never-got-over-his-wife's-death trope. So let's just punish the woman we - reluctantly - love by rejecting HER love, so that we keep ourselves safe. That's just mean and selfish. He should never have married her in the first place. And why was she so busy trying to change herself to please him? God save me from politicians! (Except my all-time favourite hero Crispin in A Lady's Code of Misconduct) Jo Beverley: Sweet MCs until the hero started worrying too much about the scandal attached to her and how it wouldn't work well with him being the son of a duke. Coward, I say! This is Romancelandia- you can make it work! Anne Gracie: A sweet story without particularly memorable characters. No real angst or drama. Skim-read it. Sorry, but I was a bit bored. [image]...more
2.5 stars. Not a bad read, although I really only enjoyed two of the four. The Grace Burrowes story was charming and quite cute, with bunnies featuring 2.5 stars. Not a bad read, although I really only enjoyed two of the four. The Grace Burrowes story was charming and quite cute, with bunnies featuring prominently. Unusual style of writing. The hero was borderline strange. But still enjoyable. The Carolyn Jewel story was a bit frustrating and took a loooong time to get to the point, but I felt very sorry for both the MCs and rejoiced in their HEA. A very repressed duke and a very sweet heroine. The Miranda Neville story got me a bit frustrated at times, too, when the hero takes too long to realise that his desire to marry the heroine is not just about a sense of duty to an old friend who needs rescuing. Too long for me. He really was obtuse! Finally, the Shana Galen story about spies. Sort of. She makes explosions, he is a clerk. It was a bit annoying as a story, although refreshing to have an older heroine (35). The hero was very beta, but sweet. Not really into the James Bond allusions. I liked this one the least.
All in all, a pleasant but not especially memorable collection. What's with all these micro-managing, repressed, list-making and vaguely OCD heroes I keep hitting in HR lately? Yikes- either extreme rake/man-whore or repressed moralist :):)...more
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